2D and 3D art to supplement your life

Evening Bags for the Midwestern Woman series

I've been working on the "Evening
Bags for the Midwestern Woman" series for a good 10 years. It
started out as an exploration, a response, really, to my vintage
purse collection. I started collecting vintage purses after helping
my parents clean out my grandmother's house and finding a spectacular
1940s boa constrictor purse, still in the original tissue and box.
Never used. "What farm woman in her right mind would carry such
a (beautiful) thing? And where?", I'm sure she thought at the
time. (I always remembered her carrying these behemoth, vinyl
shoulder bags that weighed more than she did.) Imagine my surprise to
find this little secret.....forgotten and hidden in the attic.

So
the series came about as a response to my fledgling collection - a
study of materials, structure and form. I decided to use my palette
of re-purposed materials and delve into this study and to question
practicality of purses and this expression of fashion sense and,
ultimately to celebrate it with a sense of humor.